HAIKOU, March 23. /TASS/. Evergreen deciduous forests in the coastal zone of the southern Chinese island of Hainan will increase by 1,700 hectares in the next five years, which will contribute to an increase in the level of local ecology, reported the Hainan Daily citing the regional forestry department.

According to the department's estimates, over the same period of time, the authorities intend to restore over 3,200 hectares of mangroves, degraded due to a number of unfavorable factors.

The year 2021 on Hainan is expected to mark the beginning of an important milestone in forest management activities through the introduction of new technologies — dynamic databases and modern verification systems. In addition, now the work on the protection of evergreen forests will become more regular: the competent government agencies plan to issue inspection reports once a year, from which it is possible to find out how successful the activities of the relevant government agencies have been.

At the same time, the government will improve the standardization system, introduce scientific methods to protect wetlands. Thanks to these efforts, 12 protected areas have been created on the island over the past five years, seven of which — at the national level.

According to experts, over the past 10 years, the area of ​​natural swamps and backwaters in the province has not changed much, but the territory of artificially created reserves has noticeably increased. This led to a noticeable increase in the population of rare birds. In particular, in recent years, white herons have become much more common on Hainan.

Mangrove forests grow in the tropics and at the equator along the sea coast. They are well adapted to areas where water and soil are high in salt. Over the past two decades, at least 35% of such trees have been destroyed on Earth, many different animals and birds inhabit them.